Currently the anode active material for lithium ion batteries consists of expensive synthetic graphite because it is heat treated to temperatures of 2500° C. or higher. It is desired to replace this material, which may have experienced multiple heat treatment steps to become graphitized, with a cheaper, single-step alternative heat treated to much lower temperatures and which implements a reduced thermal budget (time at higher temperatures). In addition, the surface chemistry of state-of-the-art synthetic graphites has not been optimized for the lithium ion battery operating environment in terms of formation of a stable anode surface electrolyte interface (SEI) layer. Lithium ion battery manufacturers purchase graphite powder with inherent surface properties, manufacture anodes, and assemble these anodes into cells without sufficiently considering the effect of these surface properties.